But as students receive support from some academics in
higher education, Alan Dershowitz, a prominent Harvard Law School
professor, has denounced these protests
for eroding the very basis of what he believes colleges
should be.

"That's what universities have to be about: dangerous
ideas; ideas that are iconoclastic; ideas that aren't part of the
conventional wisdom," Dershowitz told Business Insider.

There's no idea that's so despicable that it should be
banned from campus, according to
Dershowitz. "Everything should be allowed," he said.
"Ideas are permissible."

At numerous schools — including the University of Missouri
and Yale University — students have protested racism on campus
and called for the resignation of administration members who they
say are creating a dangerous environment. And at Amherst College,
students have threatened to respond in a "radical manner" if
their demands are not met.

But Dershowitz takes issue with many arguments
students make during these increasingly common
protests. He described a recent trip to Johns
Hopkins to illustrate his point:

"When I spoke at Johns Hopkins, students protested, saying my
refusal to acknowledge that Israel commits war crimes against the
Palestinian people constitutes harassment of the students. That I
had harassed students by my silence. You can't have that on
campus. Or they said in the petition against me that there are
certain ideas that are not debatable. Well of course you can
[debate ideas]."

He elaborated on his point by explaining that he's heard
students argue that you cannot debate issues related to
sexual assault on college campuses. That argument is meritless to
Dershowitz.

"You can debate whether or not you need affirmative consent," he
said. "You can debate whether the standard of proof should be by
on a preponderance of the evidence or beyond a reasonable doubt."

While Dershowitz's message has largely been that students don't
understand that even racist speech is free speech and therefore
should not be banned from campus, he does not
condone instances that cross the line from protected speech
to threatening language or actions.

Black professors had a slash mark drawn over their faces,
in what some students are calling a racially motivated attack and
hate crime. This crossed the line from
free speech into unprotected action, according to
Dershowitz.

"Freedom of speech does not include the right to deface
university property in a racially motivated manner," he said.
"I hope this was not done by anyone affiliated with the
university."